ARTHUR BUCK – ” I Am The Moment ” Peter Buck and Joseph Arthur

Joseph Arthur and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck will release their debut LP, Arthur Buck, on June 15th via New West Records. The duo previewed the album with upbeat lead single “I Am The Moment”

“Becoming free/ It’s not as easy as I’d like it to be,” Arthur sings over a lush arrangement that builds with a raw blend of percussion, vocal samples and strings.

The Arthur Buck collaboration originated toward the end of 2017, when the pair rain into each other during respective visits to Todos Santos, Mexico. They wound up pooling their material and crafted eight songs in three days; on the fourth, they performed a show for a small group of locals near Buck’s home. “It was really spontaneous and kind of magical in its own way, as [being in Mexico] we were kind of disconnected from everything,” said Buck

In an interview with NPR, Arthur recalls writing “I Am the Moment” “within the first 10 minutes of seeing each other.” He continued, “Same way as we wrote our other songs. He had the chords and arrangement and I did the top line except when I sang, ‘I am the moment ,’ he sang back, ‘Waiting for you.’ Peter said, ‘Okay, finish the lyrics so we can play that tonight.’ And I did, and we did. And the crowd completely sang along to it.” Arthur said that the song arose through his ritual of listening to inspirational YouTube clips.

From the album ‘Arthur Buck,’ available June 15th . Arthur Buck is Peter Buck and Joseph Arthur Animation/painting by Joseph Arthur

Well, I'm dyslexic so writing about something I love: Music, might help but it's most likely just full of mistakes. That title is also lyrics from The Drones song called I Don't Want To Change. Oh, my name is William and thanks for having a look.